Boating, Badlands, Black Hills

Boating, Badlands, and The Black Hills

We haven't seen cell service in days, but we have hopes that tomorrow this can post. A few trip highlights:

We spent 24 hours with my brother on a lake in western Illinois Saturday through Sunday, and I think the boys spent at least 18 hours tubing, swimming, and jumping from a stranger's boathouse roof. For a family that doesn't go boating but once a year, we can pack it in. I realized God designed two of my boys to love speed...that boat couldn't go fast enough for Bryan and Matthew. Their thumbs were in the air the whole time prodding Joe to make the boat go faster. SInce I was insisting that the speed stay within the range of a non-bone breaking speed, these guys would stand up, or jump from tube to tube to add some thrill. Then the Michael and Christopher would have their turn after having Uncle Joe swear that he would not go above 15MPH. They white knuckled it around the lake and even smiled a few times.

We camped Monday night in the middle of the Badlands after a day of hiking and Prairie dog stalking. It was pleasantly cool and I learned to eat Cream of Wheat by adding hot water to the bag it comes in. I thought FOR SURE the water would leak through, but it appears that Andy the Backpacker was right--again! You can try that trick at home just for fun.

Tuesday we stopped to see a nuclear missile silo, Wall Drug, and Mount Rushmore before setting up camp in the Black Hills at Custer State Park. The boys immediately got out their three scooters and one fishing pole (since the others got cut in the packing dilemma...see prior post) and set off to fish. Christopher returned with tales of 9 "little worms" that were crawling on his hands. He asked Bryan what they were since Bryan had been to DNR camp this summer, and Bryan informed him that they were leaches! They also caught four turtles and a snake and "hundreds" of fish.

Today the boys encountered a heard of 1500 or so buffalo while at their fishing hole. I'm SURE that Matthew was tempted to cast his rod at one of the smaller calves, but he resisted the urge. Andy and I had set out to run and had to get a ride from an older couple while we encountered the same heard on our way back. That was my first time to do the thumbs up hitch hiking sign. The woman had the Bible on her lap and said, "You're not supposed to pick up hitch hikers you know."




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